


All I Want for Christmas is You (to Want Me, Too)

by AmbitiousSkychild



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith gets the best Christmas present of all, Keith is soft and just loves his friends, Lance in a box, Lance is extra and very nervous about that, M/M, Shiro is tired as usual, that "WHAT'S IN THE BOX?" meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 12:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17162159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbitiousSkychild/pseuds/AmbitiousSkychild
Summary: It wasn’t their first time doing Secret Santa, but it was, surprisingly, their first ugly Christmas sweater party. Lance’s idea, of course, because Lance was the worst and he looked good in anything – even ugly Christmas sweaters, but Keith knew he was a bit biased. He’d been told on numerous occasions by Pidge and Shiro, both that he’d think Lance looked good in a garbage bag. Pidge would then proceed to say that they both belonged in one anyway.





	All I Want for Christmas is You (to Want Me, Too)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaiserinAstraia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserinAstraia/gifts).



> It's short and quick and I just wanted to write something cute for Christmas!  
> Keith gets the best gift of all - Lance in a box

Sometimes it still blew Keith’s mind that he’d somehow managed to acquire a real life, honest-to-God friend group. It had happened slowly at first but grew steady, and his friends included him in things and depended on him for things and invited him to things just like the movies.

They had game nights and saw movies together and eventually even started to celebrate the holidays together – something much more intimate and meaningful than Keith had ever had in all his life. There was just something so… _nice_ about knowing that Shiro wasn’t the only person to care about him anymore.

The first Christmas they all spent together, Keith realized his friends had far surpassed friend group status and were well into family territory. It was scary to think about, only momentarily, then it was almost overwhelming – leaving him hiding in the kitchen not to make a big, happy _deal_ about something that was normal for everyone else, but.

He found himself a bit sentimental every Christmas since, even when he didn’t mean to be.

Even when they were all just meeting at Lance’s apartment to hang out before he went back home to Cuba for two weeks.

Even when they were doing Secret Santa and he hadn’t even been given a gift.

Not that it… had to matter, he supposed. It was chaos in Lance’s living room as it was – gift wrapping all over the carpet, Lance’s cat trying to attack his tree while no one else was looking, Pidge still screaming at the top of her lungs about the gift Keith had gotten her. Keith had long since lost track of who had given who what gifts and who still hadn’t.

There was no way to know who his Secret Santa even was in all this.

Lance was sitting, squeezed into Hunk’s side entirely by choice in his arm chair, Santa hat flipping around every which way atop his head as he argued against Pidge that his gift was, in fact, the best one.

Shiro, who was wearing a full Santa costume – proof that he truly never could say no to Allura – was trying to calm things down and get the group back on track, somehow seeming completely unaware of how hard it was to take him seriously when he was dressed like that.

It wasn’t their first time doing Secret Santa, but it was, surprisingly, their first ugly Christmas sweater party. Lance’s idea, of course, because Lance was the worst and he looked good in anything – even ugly Christmas sweaters, but Keith knew he was a bit biased. He’d been told on numerous occasions by Pidge and Shiro, both that he’d think Lance looked good in a garbage bag. Pidge would then proceed to say that they both belonged in one anyway.

Pidge caught his eye, probably catching something in his face he hadn’t been hiding as well as he’d hoped. She made her way across the living room chaos to Keith on the end of the couch. “Come with me to get some eggnog,” she said.

 

Pidge coerced Keith into leaving the room, herding him into the kitchen, all according to plan while Keith thought they were simply sneaking away. Lance watched her flash a thumbs up behind her back as she followed Keith through the doorway. Lance’s heart stalled in his chest with the deepest onset of panic.

“Oh, god, I just realized this is a terrible idea, I’m calling it off,” Lance rushed out in a labored breath.

“After everything we’re putting into this?” Hunk challenged. “It’s literally your Secret Santa gift to him. If you call it off, then he gets nothing, and he already looks sad about that.”

“But if this goes south, then it will _ruin_ Christmas for all of us forever – every single year from here on out, we’ll remember this! I’ll go to the store right now and get him something else, I can fix it that way–”

“You’re not calling anything off,” Shiro interrupted calmly. “This is just nerves, Lance. I _know_ you want to do this, and we’ve already agreed to help. The plan’s already in motion, and I already gave you my approval, so no backing out. Besides, you’re the one who said you were tired of this flirting limbo, right? If you don’t try, nothing’s gonna change.”

Lance’s face started to feel too hot.

“Calm down, Lance,” Allura said assuringly. “You’re not alone, remember. It’s gonna be fine. You don’t have a thing to worry about, so enough stalling already. Get your ass up and let’s do this.”

“Alright, yes ma’am, damn,” Lance said, hands up in surrender.

 

The eggnog was sitting out on the kitchen counter in a bowl, clearly spiked. Keith was pretty sure Allura made it, since she and Hunk were the only ones who could make anything good and Hunk had supplied the gingerbread house and sugar cookies.

He usually loved Allura’s eggnog and Hunk’s gingerbread, but he couldn’t make himself want any of it. He couldn’t get it out of his head that maybe he deserved this somehow. Maybe all this time he really had been just lucky to be here. The question burst out before he could even think to stop it.

“Pidge, do you know who my Secret Santa was supposed to be?”

And as if the unmasked sadness of the question weren’t awkward enough, the silence that followed stretched on for almost a full minute.

“Did you not get a gift?” she asked finally.

“No. I guess I don’t know what to think,” Keith realized with a small shrug. “Should I say something? Should I go out there and ask?”

“No,” she answered quickly, eyes shifting to the kitchen doorway before flicking back. “It’s okay, Keith. Maybe whoever your Secret Santa is just didn’t want to embarrass themselves,” she shrugged, handing him a mug. “Or something.”

“ _Embarrass_ themselves?” Keith squinted. “ _What?_ ”

“Maybe they got you something they’re not sure you’re gonna like or something like that,” she reiterated. Keith shook his head.

“Well, it feels like they just forgot about me,” he mumbled. It came out faster than he could catch it – faster than he could even process it, and now Pidge was looking at him like _that_. Like the sad teen he’d been when he first met her, when his only experience with people had been that of being forgotten.

“No, oh my god, no, _please_ don’t think that,” Pidge said softly, face half hidden behind her own mug of eggnog. “No one forgot you. We love you. I think it’s probably just a mix-up.”

Keith blinked. “A mix-up? Then… who do you think my Secret Santa was supposed to be?”

“Me?” Pidge squeaked, eyes widening. “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“How can I not worry about it?” Keith grumbled. “What if whoever my Secret Santa is, I made them mad somehow? What if they just didn’t want to get me something and now everything’s awkward? How do I even fix that?”

Pidge fumbled nervously with her phone. “Oh god, please, please stop internalizing this, I am ill-equipped.”

 

“Uh-oh, Keith is internalizing. He thinks he pissed off whoever his Secret Santa is,” Hunk spoke up from across Lance’s room, eyes on his phone. “Pidge says she needs back up.”

Lance froze in place, causing Shiro to nearly trip into him at the sudden stop. “Oh fuck, I fucked up, I fucked _everything_ up and I _ruined_ his Christmas, he’s going to hate me forever and never talk to me again–”

“ _Lance!_ ” Shiro interrupted, frazzled and impatient as he pushed Lance forward himself. “Stop – _panicking!_ ” he grunted, between shoves. “This was your idea, why am I the one doing all the work?”

Allura sighed, coming over to wrap a blue bow around Lance’s head, tying it nice and neat at the top. “Hunk, go do damage control with Pidge, please. Shiro and I can take it from here with Lance.”

 

“H-hey, Hunk’s here!” Pidge exclaimed, glancing over Keith’s shoulder. He shuffled around Keith into the kitchen looking hesitant and stiff and – Keith knew that look.

“Hunk, do you know who my Secret Santa was supposed to be?” he asked.

“Wait, what do you mean? Did you not get a gift?” Hunk asked back, and it _sounded_ convincing, but Keith couldn’t ignore the feeling that there was something… _off_. He glanced to Pidge whose eyes were staring so hard at Hunk, Keith was surprised Hunk couldn’t seem to feel it.

Almost like she was trying to tell him something.

“What aren’t you two telling me?” he demanded, brows lowering in a glare.

“What do you mean?” Pidge asked, again, _almost_ convincing.

“I mean I can tell when you’re lying to me, especially Hunk,” Keith answered, eyes hard on both of them. He noticed Hunk fumbling with his phone in his pocket. “What are you doing?” he demanded suspiciously.

“Nothing, dude, you’re being nuts,” Hunk answered.

“Are you texting someone?” Keith pressed.

“Yeah,” Hunk answered quickly. “It’s just my mom, okay? Calm down, dude, no one’s conspiring against you.”

 

“Play time is over, he is _onto_ us, _get in the box!_ ” Allura hissed, holding out her phone, open in a message from Hunk that simply read “ _SOS_ ” in all caps followed by two rows of exclamation marks.

But Lance stood there frozen in place, eyes down on the large box, neatly wrapped with a bow on the lid and only missing him. He glanced up at Shiro and could visibly see it when he caved.

“Alright, Lance,” he sighed, stepping nearer. “What’s really wrong?”

Lance sighed, ready to answer but got cut off by a sudden yell.

“ _Man, maybe Allura knows who your Secret Santa was supposed to be!_ ” came Hunk’s voice very loudly from the kitchen.

“Oh, my god, I’m on it,” Allura hissed, eyes on Lance’s bedroom door. She turned quickly back to face them, eyes locking hard onto Shiro’s. “Handle this and get Lance into the living room, I’m gonna tag in with Hunk. Lance,” she said fiercely, though her eyes were calming. “It’s going to be fine. Just relax. You’re making it bigger than it is.” With that she was off, shuffling out of the room and toward the kitchen.

“Lance?” Shiro prompted again, voice calm and patient even though they were in a very clear rush and Lance felt like _exploding_ , and he–

“I really, really, _really_ like him, Shiro. I can’t remember a single time since I’ve known him that I didn’t feel this way – probably liked him since I met him,” Lance admitted all in one breath. “This is such a big risk – I could ruin everything. If he doesn’t like me back…. I’ve never liked anyone like this before.”

It was few and far between that Lance really got to see Shiro’s proud smile, but there it is with a dash of touched. He glanced toward Lance’s bedroom door. “Look, I get it. I was this nervous about asking out Allura, I know it’s nerve-wracking, but do you really think I would have told you to go for it if I thought you’d be embarrassed?”

“ _Alright that’s it – where is Lance?_ ” came Keith’s frustrated voice from the kitchen. Something about it made Lance’s heart beat twice as hard in his chest.

Shiro cleared his throat, reclaiming Lance’s attention with a poker face Lance had long since learned to read. “So, here’s the deal. You can call it off if you really want to. I really think you’d regret it, but it’s your call. What do you want to do?”

Lance looked down at the box.

 

Keith glared from Pidge, to Hunk, to Allura – altogether, a human wall blocking him from leaving the kitchen. “ _Look_ ,” he started for what felt like the hundredth time. “I know none of you are my Secret Santa. I know it’s Lance, and I know I must have done something to piss him off and now he’s avoiding me.”

“Keith, that’s not true,” Pidge said calmly.

“Then why has everyone come in here trying to distract me from it but him?” Keith challenged.

“Shiro hasn’t come in here,” Hunk argued.

“That’s because he’s in on it,” Keith realized with an eye roll. “Whatever this is–” he groaned, suddenly fed up entirely. “Alright, that’s it – _where is Lance?_ ”

Whatever he’d done wrong, he couldn’t fix it if Lance wouldn’t talk to him, and he cared too much about their friendship to leave things like this. He cared too much about Lance, period. The more he thought back on potential offences he may have committed in their recent past, the more he came up empty, the more he started to think that maybe it wasn’t necessarily something he’d done.

Maybe it was the way he felt.

Maybe his feelings wasn’t as surreptitious as he’d always hoped, and maybe… maybe he’d ruined things because of it.

He sighed, eyes on the floor. “Guys, move, I need to go talk to him.” He stepped toward the kitchen doorway, which started a small pandemonium amongst his friends who looked panicked and torn to be trying to stop him.

“Keith, he’s not mad at you!”

“Keith, whatever you’re thinking–”

_“Ho, ho, hold on there.”_

Keith snapped his attention up along with Pidge, Hunk, and Allura who turned in the doorway to see Shiro standing tall and confident in the dining room, looking more Santa-esq than he had all night even with the blank expression that came with having to deliver that line.

“Shiro, what are you doing?” Keith blinked.

Shiro sighed. “For the sake of all the fucking effort we put into this, it’s Santa,” he corrected, “and as for what I’m doing, I’m about to make your night. I hear someone didn’t get a gift.”

Keith blinked, surprised. “How did _you_ know?”

“I’m Santa,” Shiro reiterated with an eye roll. “And as far as your gift, I’d look again, if I were you.”

“What?” Keith murmured. Allura, Hunk, and Pidge finally parted to let him through letting him step out into the small dining room through to the living room. There was Lance’s Christmas tree, and directly in front was an enormous box that Keith knew he couldn’t have possibly overlooked before. “What…? Did Lance get me this?” Keith asked with a look over his shoulder, only to see that his friends had mysteriously vanished, the kitchen and dining room gone dark, the only light coming from the Christmas tree. “Guys?” he asked.

He started back toward the kitchen, but the box shifted before him, a small sharp grunt sounding from within that changed his mind. The box came up to his middle, and on the lid was a sticky note reading “Open me.” It was wrapped in green and red wrapping paper around the bottom, then separately the lid, and it was hard to miss the large holes poked in the top.

“Did he get me a pet?” Keith wondered aloud.

He slowly removed the lid and was surprised to see that, no, it was not a pet.

There was Lance, standing from the box and looking down at him – a big blue bow atop his head. He offered a sheepish smile. “Merry Christmas,” he said softly, waiting for Keith to say something back, but he could only stare, shocked and embarrassed that he’d been so _wrong_.

Lance hadn’t forgotten about him, and he wasn’t mad at him either. Lance was giving himself to Keith. Lance was his gift.

And Keith didn’t know what to say.

Though, apparently, Lance did. “Alright,” he said with an awkward laugh as he started to lower himself back into the box to Keith’s surprise. “You hate it, that’s okay, I’ll just send myself back to the store–”

“No!” Keith exclaimed, jolted into action. He dropped the lid onto the floor, reached for Lance’s shoulders to stop him. Lance was watching him back with wide blue eyes as Keith held him in place, wrapped his arms around broad shoulders to tether them together and felt like an idiot immediately after. “I don’t hate it,” he managed, flushing down to his neck as Lance continued to look at him like he couldn’t be real.

“You don’t?” Lance whispered. He didn’t seem to mind Keith all but throwing himself at him, hands hovering awkwardly around his middle, and Keith didn’t know how to ask Lance to just hold him.

“No,” Keith shook his head, and their noses bumped together accidentally as he did. He felt himself flushing even more. “I don’t – I’d never – I’ve always wanted–” he groaned in frustration, shook his head in the hopes of shaking some coherent words out with it. “I’ve liked you forever. I thought you found out and you didn’t feel the same way. I was scared I made you mad at me and you were avoiding me.”

“No, never,” Lance said back, low and between just the two of them. “Not mad at you, just… really, _really_ into you.”

 _Me too_ , Keith thought and forgot to say as he leaned up to press his lips to Lance’s. And Lance smiled against his lips and kissed back like he was dying for it and Keith knew Lance felt him loud and clear.

 

“I want to look away, but I _can’t_ , they’re so _cute_ ,” Allura whined in a heated whisper, peering unashamed around the kitchen doorway.

“Allura, give them some privacy,” Shiro sighed, rummaging around the cabinet for a mug in the dark. “Seriously, stop watching my brother make out with Lance. We’re gonna have to break them up soon anyway, I’m not spending the rest of the night in Lance’s kitchen in the dark.”

“They’re going to owe us for the rest of their lives,” Hunk commented, going for a joke, but he just sounded proud and touched and a plethora of other Hunk-esque emotions as he leaned against the counter top.

Pidge sighed, leaning out the kitchen doorway with Allura. She smiled to herself, unable to keep from rolling her eyes. “Merry Christmas, dumb-dumbs.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it was as cute as I think it was! Please feel free to come scream at me on [Tumblr](https://ambitiousskychild.tumblr.com/) if you fancy~~~


End file.
